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Autistic Celebrities
The pathology paradigm that dominates the way western society perceives neurodivergence would have us believe that successful people, especially those in the public eye, tend to be neurotypical. This view is completely decimated by the reality of successful people with neurodivergences (see also famous people with bipolar). In the case of autism spectrum divergences, society's stereotypes of asociality tend to preclude many celebrities from being open about their diagnoses. Even comedians, who are often stereotyped as being on the spectrum, receive harsh backlash when they openly disclose that they believe they are autistic(TW: cr-slur (cr-pple) used to mean 'debilitate', indirect sui mention (Robin Williams): . "Whenever someone says, “autism made me the success I am today,” in whatever way they mean, and in whatever field . . . we take a step toward recognizing that autism confers both gift and disability on us. Society needs us, but we also need society – or at least its respect and resources. For the broader public to see examples of autistic strength can only be good." - John Elder Robison Confirmed Examples Here we list examples of people who have confirmed that they are autistic or have an autism spectrum (AS) neurodivergence. We include only celebrities whose fame is not directly related to their autism advocacy (e.g. not Temple Grandin or John Elder Robison). * Sir Anthony Hopkins (Welsh Actor) * Dan Aykroyd (US Actor) * Daryl Hannah (US Actress) * Courtney Love (US Musician, Hole) * Gary Numan (British Musician) * Susan Boyle (Scottish Singer) * Hannah Gadsby (Australian comedian)|TheMighty:/Cassidy2018/Comedian Hannah Gadsby Shares How Her Autism Diagnosis Gave Her a New View of the World> * Jim Jefferies (Australian comedian) * 田尻 智 Satoshi Tajiri (Japanese Video Game creator, Nintendo) * Roseanne Barr (US comedian) , (TW: ableism, saneism, racism, defending racism), * David Byrne (Scottish-US Musician) (TW: references to 'mild' autism) (TW: Functioning Labels, 'growing out of autism' myth) * Dan Harmon (US Writer, Rick and Morty) * Dr Dawn Prince-Hughes (American Anthropologist) * Adam Young (American Musician, Owl City) * Craig Nicholls (Australian Musician, The Vines) * Pip "Ladyhawke" Brown (Aotearoan musician) * Greta Thunberg (Swedish climate activist) * Vernon L. Smith (Economist) * Chris Packham (English naturalist) * 東田 直樹 Higashida Naoki (Japanese poet, author of 『自閉症の僕が跳びはねる理由』) * Abz Love (English-Turkish Musician, 5ive, autism revelation video) * Anne "The Governess" Hegerty (English Quizmaster on ITV's The Chase) * Clay Marzo (US Surfer) * Heather Kuzmich (America's Next Top Model finalist, 2007)|NYTimes:/Parker-Pope2007/Asperger’s Syndrome Gets a Very Public Face> * Alexis Wineman (first openly autistic Miss America contestant) * Michael Burry (ex-neurologist, investor and hedge fund manager who predicted the 2008 financial crisis) * Darius McCollum (US subway joyrider) * Annie Lederman (American comedian) * Talia Grant (British actress) List form: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd, Daryl Hannah, Courtney Love, Gary Numan, Susan Boyle, Hannah Gadsby, Jim Jefferies, 田尻 智 Satoshi Tajiri, Roseanne Barr, David Byrne, Dan Harmon, Dr Dawn Prince-Hughes, Adam Young, Craig Nicholls, Pip "Ladyhawke" Brown, Greta Thunberg, Vernon L. Smith, Chris Packham, 東田 直樹 Higashida Naoki, Abz Love, Anne "The Governess" Hegerty, Clay Marzo, Heather Kuzmich, Alexis Wineman, Michael Burry, Darius McCollum, Annie Lederman, Talia Grant. Trigger Warning: autistic m-rderers in collapsed (hidden) section beneath this line. * Martin Bryant (Mass murderer) (TW: mass murderer) * Adam Lanza (Mass murderer) (TW: mass murderer) Hinted Cases Because of the stereotypes around autism, many celebrities do not openly state whether they are autistic, but have given signs to this effect. * Eminem AKA Marshall Mathers (describes having Asperger's in recent album) * Tim Burton (diagnosed by wife, Helena Bonham-Carter) * Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino (hinted an obsession with Asperger's-focused literature) * Keanu Reeves (was dyslexic, has insomnia and is rumoured to have shown autistic signs as a child) Others have had hints or speculations made by others about them, in the case of living celebrities this is 'armchair diagnosis' and is discouraged, however in the case of popular figures who have passed away before a diagnosis could ever be made, this is less controversial. Here we include some of the latter: * Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Michael Fitzgerald and Viktoria Lyons in their book , ) * Charles Darwin (as above) * Alfred Kinsey (as above) * Bertrand Russell (as above) * Kurt Gödel (as above) * Patricia Highsmith (as above) * Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd founder, hinted as having an Asperger's style mind by his sisterPalacios, Julian (2010). Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd: Dark Globe. London: Plexus Publishing Limited. ) * Vladimir Putin (based on a Pentagon assessment) Comorbid Associations (see also Autism Comorbidities and |Wikipedia:/en/Conditions comorbid to autism spectrum disorders>) Some neurological conditions are heavily comorbid with autism and hence the probability of people with these conditions also being autistic is greatly increased relative to the broader population. * Synaesthesia. Overall prevalence 0.1% to 7% , autistic prevalence ~19%. * Natal teeth. Overall 1/700 to 1/30,000 , autistic prevalence ~44/54 (for specific gene)|Translational Psychiatry:/Gozes et. al. (2017)/Premature primary tooth eruption in cognitive/motor-delayed ADNP-mutated children> * ADHD. Overall 3.4% to 7.1%, autistic prevalence 30-50%5, 18% ADHD prevalence of autistic traits, compared to 0.87% for non-ADHD6. * OCD. Overall 1.2-2.3% , autistic prevalence 'twice as likely' , prevalence of Autism in OCD 'four times as likely'. * Epilepsy. Overall 0.05%|Neurology:/Ngugi et. al. (2011)/Incidence of epilepsy - A systematic review and meta-analysis> , autistic prevalence up to 40%|Epilepsy & Behavior:/Epsis et. al. (2005)/Autism and epilepsy: Cause, consequence, comorbidity, or coincidence?> (16-54%)|Epilepsy & Behavior:/Lee et. al. (2015):/Autism Spectrum Disorder and Epilepsy: disorders with a shared biology> Due to these, certain celebrities can be identified as having a higher likelihood of being autistic than others. * Lorde AKA Ella Yelich-O'Connor (has synaesthesia) * Kanye West (synaesthesia) * Tori Amos (synaesthesia) * Geoffrey Rush (synaesthesia) * Pharrel Williams (synaesthesia) * Stevie Wonder (synaesthesia) * Vladimir Nabokov (synaesthesia) * Richard Feynman (synaesthesia) * Louis XIV (neonatal teeth)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonatal_teeth#Notable_cases * Richard III (neonatal teeth) * Ivan the Terrible (neonatal teeth) * Richard Branson (dyslexia) * Lena Dunham (OCD, anxiety) * Justin Timberlake (OCD, ADHD) * Howie Mandel (OCD, ADHD) * Tim Howard (US soccer player) (Tourette Syndrome, OCD) * Lil Wayne (epilepsy)|healthline.com://12 Famous Faces of Epilepsy> * Theodore Roosevelt (epilepsy) * Danny Glover (epilepsy) * Prince (epilepsy) * Hugo Weaving (epilepsy) Other synaesthetes are listed here, as well as some suspected ones (some listed below): * Nikola Tesla * Jimi Hendrix * Bob Dylan * Victor Hugo * John Mayer * Ludwig Wittgenstein * Friedrich Nietzsche * Frank Ocean More people with epilepsy include those described below: "Hugo Weaving, Sir Isaac Newton, Vincent Van Gogh, Napoleon Bonaparte, Neil Young, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Danny Glover, Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Alfred Nobel, Julius Caesar, Leonardo Da Vinci, Aristotle, Edgar Allen Poe, Alfred the Great, Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis Carrol, Bud Abbott, George Frederick Handel, Richard Burton, Charles V of Spain, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Hannibal, Pythagoras, James Madison, Lord Byron, Martin Luther, Peter Tchaikovsky, Sir Walter Scott, Truman Capote, Socrates and Chanda Gunn." Similar Diagnoses Other diagnoses such as bipolar are much more commonly given to adults who are seen as "functioning" in their daily lives, due to stereotypes surrounding autism. Hence, it is quite possible that many of the extensive list of celebrities with bipolar, may also be autistic. Some are included below: Lily Allen, Russell Brand, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears, Benga, Kurt Cobain, Sinead O'Connor, Chris Brown, Demi Lovato, Francis Ford Coppola ("manic depression" at the time), Carrie Fisher, Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine mogul), Stephen Fry, Sia (Australian musician), Mel Gibson, Halsey (US bisexual pop singer), Charles Hamilton (US rapper), Linda Hamilton (Terminator actress), Ernest Hemingway (US journalist/novelist), Vivien Leigh (Gone With The Wind actress), Ada Lovelace (first computer programmer and daughter of Lord Byron), Lou Reed, Nina Simone, Ted Turner, David Walliams (UK comedian), Catherine Zeta-Jones and Amy Winehouse. Celebrities diagnosed with ADHD (as adults or children) include: Michael Phelps (US olympic swimmer), Karina Smirnoff (US dancer), Howie Mandel (TV host and comedian), Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, Simone Biles (US olympic gymnast), Solange Knowles , Jim Carey, Ty Pennington, James Carville, Pete Rose (US Baseballer), Michelle Rodriguez (US actress), Jamie Oliver , Channing Tatum, Lisa Ling (US journalist), will.i.am (US musician) , Loyle Carner (English musician), Bex Taylor-Klaus (US actress) , Terry Bradshaw (former NFL quarter-back) , Paul Orfalea (US Founder of Kinko's) , Caitlin Jenner (former US olympian) , Ryan Gosling . Autism in Science Popular scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson has commented that he "suspects as many as 10% of his scientific colleagues fall somewhere on the spectrum."|Twitter:/@NeilTyson/I suspect as many as 10% of...> It has also been shown that students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have significantly higher rates of autism in their families|ResearchGate:/Baron-Cohen1998/Autism occurs more often in families of physicists, engineers, and mathematicians> as well as higher likelihood of being autistic themselves|JAutismDevDisord:/Wei2013/Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Participation Among College Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder>. Historical Figures Since psychoanalysis has only existed for the past century, making inferences about the neurodivergent traits of historical figures is difficult and imprecise, but there are several figures who have reasonable evidence to suggest they were autistic. * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * Andy Warhol * Alan Turing * Lewis Carroll (diagnosed post-humously) * Edgar Allen Poe (possibly had bipolar) * Napoleon Bonaparte (born with full set of teeth, highly comorbid with autism) * Albert Einstein (possibly dyslexic) * Ludwig Boltzmann (possibly had bipolar) * Georg Cantor (possibly had bipolar) * Isaac Newton (had epilepsy and many autistic traits) * Thomas Edison (had epilepsy, possibly dyslexia) * Benjamin Franklin * George Washington * Leonardo da Vinci (suspected epilepsy, dyslexia) * Vincent van Gogh (possibly had synaesthesia, epilepsy and bipolar) * Ludwig van Beethoven (possibly had bipolar) * Socrates * William Shakespeare * Hans Christian Andersen (word-blind and a poor speller) * Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (disputed)Discussing posthumous diagnoses of Montgomery Links |disabled-world.com://Famous People with Aspergers Syndrome References Category:Autism Spectrum Category:Celebrities Category:Celebrity Culture Category:Atypical Autism Category:Autistic Culture